Motor vehicles are often equipped with large storage areas that are useful to store luggage or other objects. This is true whether the vehicle is a sedan with a trunk compartment under the trunk lid, a sport-utility vehicle with a storage space behind the rear seat accessed by means of a tailgate or a hatchback vehicle with a storage area underneath the hatchback. In many of these vehicles, the size of the storage area prevents one at the rear of the vehicle from easily accessing the forward portion of the storage area which is out of reach.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,568,628 discloses a rotary platform that is mounted to the floor of a trunk 80 and makes the forwardmost area of the storage space more accessible to one at the rear of the vehicle. More specifically, any object held on the platform at the front of the storage space may be conveniently moved toward the individual at the rear of the vehicle by simply rotating the platform.
While such a rotating platform is useful for its intended purpose, it should be appreciated that such a platform only improves access to that portion of the forward storage space in the middle of the vehicle. The forwardmost corners of the storage space to the right and left of the platform essentially remain unreachable and largely inaccessible to someone at the rear of the vehicle.
This document relates to a new and improved storage system for a vehicle that incorporates an orbiting platform that provides much better access to the forwardmost portions of the storage compartment for one at the rear of the vehicle. This includes better access to objects stored at the forward-most corners of the storage area. Accordingly, the storage system disclosed in this document represents a significant advance in the art when compared to a rotatable tray or platform as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,568,628.